The invention relates to a weight lifting belt with a therapeutic lumbar region centrally located where the belt crosses the weight lifter's lower back. More particularly, the invention relates to a leather weight lifting belt constructed with a packet of water in a gelatinous state (hereinafter the gel pack) disposed between the leather strap or primary support wall of the weight lifting belt and a leather covering. Thus, the gel pack is completely enclosed in the belt. The leather covering is attached to the primary support wall of the weight lifting belt as a protective covering for the gel pack. In addition, the leather covering increases the strength, durability and visual enhancement of the overall product. The gel pack is located on the primary support wall of the weight lifting belt so as to be positioned centrally across the lower back, also known as the lumbar region, of the weight lifter. So positioned, the invention provides constant support and uniform pressure to the lumbar region.
In today's society of heightened health consciousness, physical fitness has become of increased importance. Many forms of physical fitness have experienced recent gains in popularity. This is also true of weight lifting. While weight lifting is an excellent form of physical exercise, it can also prove to be a dangerous form. Danger in the weight room comes not only from mechanical devices and the heavy amount of weight attached to each device, but also from improper technique and over exertion (lifting excessive weight) on the part of a weight lifter during an exercise. The results of these self-inflicted dangers are often sore, strained and torn muscles.
Nowhere is this danger more prevalent than in the weight lifter's lumbar region. The lumbar region being generally described as that part of the back and sides of the body located between the lowest ribs and the hips. The muscles of the lumbar region can be easily strained or torn during over exertion A same result can occur when improper technique is employed while exercising the muscles of not only the lumbar region, but also those of the leg and chest regions of the body.
In order to combat the dangers to the lumbar region muscles, weight lifters employ what is generally known as the weight lifting belt. Typically, a weight lifting belt is constructed out of a heavy leather strap with a common fastener attached to each end. A belt buckle and a series of belt holes are most regularly employed as the common fastener. However, strips of the hook and loop fastener "Velcro" are also routinely used.
Proceeding transversely across the length of a typical weight lifting belt, the belt begins to widen upon reaching the beginning of the weight lifter's lumbar region, both upwardly and downwardly from the belt's centerline. In some styles of weight lifting belts, the downward increase in width will mirror the upward increase in width. In other styles, the increases in width will occur at different points transversely along the belt's centerline. Another style of weight lifting belts provide "extra" support for the lumbar region muscles. These belts tend to exhibit an upward increase in width, from the belt's centerline, that is greater than the corresponding downward increase in width.
Upon reaching the midpoint of the lumbar region, more easily recognized as the weight lifter's spinal column, weight lifting belts tend to mirror themselves along a vertical axis corresponding to the spinal column until passing completely across the lumbar region. Once across the weight lifter's lumbar region, the weight lifting belt continues at a width equal to that of the previous end, until reaching the opposing common fastener.
The purpose of the extra width across the lumbar region of a weight lifting belt is two fold. The first is to assist the weight lifter in maintaining proper technique during exercises where muscles, other than those in the lumbar region, are being used or isolated. The proper technique encouraged by the weight lifting belt is that of a straight back. A straight back prohibits the weight lifter from excessively using the muscles of the lumbar region to assist those muscles being isolated during the exercise.
When improper technique is employed during a lift, a situation more likely to occur without a weight lifting belt, the possibility of excessive strain being applied to the muscles of the lumbar region increases. In actual practice, the amount of excessive strain possibly being applied to the lumbar region muscles varies from exercise to exercise.
A second purpose of the extra width in a weight lifting belt is to provide extra support for the lumbar region muscles and other relatively weak areas of the body during a lift. These weak areas include the kidney, abdominal and other weak areas of the body. Support is provided in the form of pressure applied to the weight lifter's lumbar region. The pressure is induced by tightening the weight lifting belt. This increased pressure enables the weight lifter to reduce the amount of work that must be performed by the muscles of the lumbar region during that lift.
While the typical weight lifting belts do help prevent injury to the lumbar region muscles by encouraging proper technique and providing support, they have limitations. After a relatively short period of time, depending upon the frequency and duration of use, a weight lifting belt will begin to show evidence of wear. While not rendered unusable, the belt does lose some of its effectiveness.
One problem of wear occurs across the wide lumbar area of the weight lifting belt. In particular, the leather along the centerline of the weight lifting belt begins to breakdown in strength. This breakdown is caused in part by a stretching of the leather along the belt's centerline. Stress concentrations, induced by the widening of the weight lifting belt in the lumbar region, tend to localize the stretching to the belt's centerline. With this breakdown, the belt will exhibit a bow toward the user. A weight lifting belt exhibiting this inward bow is effectively reduced in its ability to encourage the use of a straight back technique. Again, the possibility of injury arises.
Another generally occurring problem in weight lifting belts is the inability of the belt to provide uniform back support to the user. It is known that the lumbar region is not uniformly shaped from one person to another, nor from the left side of the body to the right. While some individuals may exhibit a rounded lumbar region, most will exhibit a depression in the area of their spinal column. The typical lifting belt fails to account for these differences.
Common weight lifting belts remain in contact with the entire lumbar region of very few weight lifters. The problem becomes aggravated as the muscles along the sides of the spinal column grow and increase in size. Therefore, in most instances, the belt will only make contact with the left and right sides of the user's lumbar region forming a bridge-like span across the depression of the spinal column region.
The weight lifting belt of the present invention is especially adapted to remain in contact with the weight lifter's body across the entire lumbar region for all possible user variations. This is achieved by attaching the gel pack to the weight lifting belt so that the gel pack will be centrally presented to the lumbar region of the user. In so doing, the present invention provides constant support and uniform pressure across the user's entire lumbar region.
The present invention also overcomes various other disadvantages of the prior art weight lifting belts. Particularly, the invention eliminates the tendency of a worn weight lifting belt to bow inwardly. This is achieved by staggering the increases in width in combination with the gel pack filling the depression of the spinal region. The result of these improvements is a weight lifting belt that encourages proper technique, provides uniformly distributed pressure and support, increases user comfort, reduces the threat of injury, and thus promotes greater physical fitness.